you must respect the jimmie

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Jimmie Johnson’s new nickname is “Superman” which is totally fitting because he reminds me of Clark Kent. Jimmie’s got the whole mild-mannered thing down pat.
🙂

Congrats to Jimmie and the No. 48 Lowe’s team. They did an amazing job in picking up their 4th straight Sprint Cup Championship.

I kept going back and forth over whether or not I would write about the whole “you should respect Jimmie” and “the garage respects him, now the fans need to” lines people have been repeating lately.

It irritates me because I don’t understand the perception that people dislike Jimmie. I’ve never heard anyone boo him or act disrespectfully towards him. It was never about disliking him and not wanting Jimmie to win the Championship in the sense that people felt he didn’t deserve it. It was the fact that we just wanted it to be someone else, for it to be different. I think that you can want some change, a spicier competition, and still respect someone completely.

We’re saying to Jimmie’s competition, whoever our fave driver happens to be, “Please step it up, because if he wins a 5th one, you need to re-evaluate your abilities as a racecar driver.” Okay, maybe not that harsh, but not that far off. You really have to wonder what’s up with the 42 other dudes out there every week if this one team keeps beating everybody every year.

I don’t doubt Jimmie’s talent, AT ALL. It’s because of his talent that I want someone else to give him a real run for his money.

That’s all! I like Jimmie. He is a nice guy. He’s Clark friggin Kent and Superman, how can you not like that? Ugh, I might get crap for saying that, but whatever. I certainly was never trying to discount the talent. I’m sure there are people that respect Tiger Woods’ talent but are fans of a rival golfer and would rather that person won over Tiger.

Amazing how Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson, two polar opposites personality-wise, are being painted as the Rodney Dangerfield’s of NASCAR, supposedly neither of them can’t get any respect from the fans. Which is ridiculous. I think people — NASCAR fans, media, and officials — get a little overly sensitive sometimes.

Ugh. 🙂

So for emphasis I will reiterate that I am genuinely happy for the Lowe’s team and everything they’ve accomplished this year and the past 4 years. They’ve done something no one else has and they have every right to be proud of themselves. They deserve to be celebrated. It’s not easy to do what they did and I can appreciate that completely. Oh! And can I say that I loved it when Jimmie’s dad was interviewed? I loved hearing the story of how Jimmie got his name and seeing the emotion in his father.

I think instead of interviewing the winning driver in Victory Lane they should just go straight to their parents or their wife. It would be way more emotional that way. It was also super sweet to see Jimmie make a beeline for his wife, Chandra, after he got out of his car in Victory Lane.

So now that the season is over I am ecstatic that I get to say that I’m looking forward to attending Champion’s Week!

Ron Hornaday Jr. and team owner Kevin Harvick celebrate Hornaday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship and Harvick’s Ford 200 win at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The championship is Hornaday’s fourth in the series and the second for Kevin Harvick Inc. (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Anika totally rocked the National Anthem. I think it was the best version of the season.

National Anthem singer Anika Noni Rose, the voice of the lead character in Disney’s “Princess and the Frog”, meets Jeff Gordon and his daughter Ella Sophia prior to the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)